Tasted in Chemilly with Marianne Vilain, 07 January 2020.
Domaine de Chaude Ecuelle
35 Grande rue
89800 Chemilly-sur-Serein
Tel: +33 3 86 42 40 44
www.chaudeecuelle.com
More reports for Domaine Chaud Ecuelle
Marianne on 2019:
“It was very hot! So we had good, clean grapes but small grapes. We lacked water but needed to treat less. The harvest was great for quality, we had about 45 hl/ha – 60 would be the rendement. Fortunately no hail but there was some lighting of candles to fight to frost but no major consequences from thaqt, fortunately.”
Marianne on 2018:
“Unexpected! Because of the dryness we didn’t expect this result – the dryness seemed to leave the sugars quite low but in the last days it turned around and we have a vintage that seems exceptional. We had no frost, just one night of worry – there were many storms of course and lots of rain at the start of the season but the summer was really a joy for working in the vines – and in the end – happy! Not all the 1er crus not yet bottled but all the rest are. I have similar memories of the summer to 2019, but more rendement so was able to claim some VCI to put towards the total in 2019.”
The wines…
What a great range – very classic – even some cool-vintage lime-style fruit in these nicely sculpted, incisive wines!
DIAM for the whole range here.
2018 Petit Chablis
Vines in Pouilly on the plateau, Chemilly, Fyé – everywhere!
Hmm, that’s a bubblingly fresh nose – nice. Good attack, broad, nice energy, lip-smacking slightly bitter zesty skin finish – ooh – excellent PC!
Normally worth about 30 hectares. Vines planted by grandfather, mainly from the village of Chemilly, but there are vines in Chablis and Béru too.
Hmm – that’s a lovely, wide, green-citrus nose. Intense, energetic, perhaps a hint of CO2 but there’s lime-fruit, attack, and a proper 100% Chablis personality. Good intensity. Bravo!
3 hectares, roughly. About 2 ha with more than 60 years, some have been replanted. Grandfather’s vines again – planted in the 1950s, usually smaller grapes in this parcel too. Small, sweet grapes. Actually fill some holes with provignage here! These vines are less affected by the heat – they seem not to suffer!
Again a wide nose, more complex but less attack-focused – almost a smoky complexity. But in the mouth – vibrant, incisive, more saline clarity and it’s mineral too – ooh – that’s super, super! Bravo! Love this finishing intensity!
2018 Chablis 1er Montée de Tonnerre
O.75 ha. Planted 1947… on the hillside. Here it doesn’t frost so often as the vines are quite high. All hand harvested – ‘It’s not easy as it’s steep here – but it’s good for the muscles of the harvesters!’
Super nose – clean, fresh, inviting. Less incisive because there’s a little more depth, textural depth, to this concentration. Young, structural needs 6-12 months of patience, but there’s a block of mouth-watering flavour in the middle that holds persistently in the finish. Will be fine, but you need to have some patience.
2017 Chablis Cuvée Clovis
Half 228-litre barrel elevage and with longer elevage too. Clovis was a great uncle who had no children, so the vines were some of the basis of this domaine, so it’s a small homage to him – only 2,000 bottles. It’s an attractive label too!
Fresh, a little cushioned lime-fruit – no obvious barrel aromas. Driving shape, intense, super texture, here in the middle is some oak flavour – I would wait another 2+ years for this to fade, but it’s sleek, concentrated, with lovely texture and a strong finishing salinity – excellent.
